4A – Forming An Opportunity Belief


Beginning Point: I believe that an opportunity exists for Starbucks to enhance their advertising and social media marketing methods. This belief comes from the experience of frequently visiting the Starbucks stores located on campus because the coffeehouse’s main advertising medium is the store itself. Starbucks promotes the lifestyle of its consumers by not following the traditional methods of advertising, due to the fact that they did not require it to promote the brand. When advertising, Starbucks focuses on quality-based differentiation, excellent customer service, and customer orientation. Consumers are attracted to Starbucks not only for the products- mainly the beverages, but for the experience as well. I feel like a majority of its target market goes to the physical stores for the beverage products, but some also go for the experience as well. However, the company can expand on its various forms of advertising, especially on-campus to receive high engagement on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat.

Describe the Belief: The unmet need is Starbucks potential to increase their advertising and social media marketing methods for various promotions such as offering BOGO (buy one, get one free) offers to consumers to encourage them to purchase a drink and receive one to give to a close friend. The people who have this need are young people ages 16 to 24, typically in high school or college. The need came from when I asked some of my peers out of curiosity if they had ever seen an advertisement for Starbucks before, in which all of them answered no. The need has always existed, due to Starbucks relying on not following traditional methods of advertising, which some consumers view as a throwback to the methods businesses appealed to target markets before the introduction of social media. To meet this need, Starbucks has gradually shifted towards advertising on social media platforms. I am 100% sure that this opportunity exists for Starbucks to implement and use.

Prototypical Customer 1: Jon (Junior)

How frequently do you go to, or visit Starbucks?
Interviewee: So, I usually visit Starbucks more often when I’m really stressed, so around exam days or when a lot of projects are due. Normally when I’m that stressed out, I might visit two to three times a week at most.

Did you enjoy your experiences at Starbucks?
Interviewee: In general, yeah. Generally, I get very basic drinks, regular coffee or a cappuccino. So, those are generally very standard and not too much to complain about.

What is your current impression of Starbucks?
Interviewee: It’s not a bad place to get coffee, mostly because of how popular it is on campus and how many locations they have available.

What words do you associate with the brand when you hear “Starbucks?”
Interviewee: It’s like, hip, trendy, same thing. Decent, I guess?

How has Starbucks advertising impacted you?
Interviewee: I don’t really see ads for Starbucks, so I would say that Starbucks advertising has little to no effect on me.

What do you think has contributed to the success of Starbucks?
Interviewee: I think their popularity on social media and I suppose also just how they’re so prevalent on college campuses or at least the ones that I have been to has greatly contributed to their popularity among college aged Americans.

Overall, how do you rate your experience at Starbucks?
Interviewee: 5/10, I go there for coffee and not really anything else. So, it’s just like average.

Prototypical Customer 2: Khanh (Sophomore)

How frequently do you go to, or visit Starbucks?
Interviewee: One to two times a month. I usually only go to Starbucks for the fruit flavored drinks because I don’t like coffee. In addition to that, I don’t like spending too much money on extravagant beverages.

Did you enjoy your experiences at Starbucks?
Interviewee: Although the lines and wait times may be long, I generally enjoy my experience at Starbucks because the employees try their very best to be efficient and kind. And even though sometimes there might be mistakes made when finishing my drink, I understand that mistakes happen, and the employees will generally remake the drink if necessary.

What is your current impression of Starbucks?
Interviewee: It gives the general coffeeshop vibes, but sometimes the atmosphere can be very busy due to its popularity.

What words do you associate with the brand when you hear “Starbucks?”
Interviewee: Coffee.

How has Starbucks advertising impacted you?
Interviewee: I don’t see Starbucks ads ever.

What do you think has contributed to the success of Starbucks?
Interviewee: The Tumblr aesthetic.

Overall, how do you rate your experience at Starbucks?
Interviewee: It can be a great experience as long as the employees reciprocate good vibes into the customer-cashier relationship and hard work into the drink made. So, if those standards are met then 10/10

Prototypical Customer 3: Jeffrey (Freshman)

How frequently do you go to, or visit Starbucks?
Interviewee: Zero times a week. The only time I go to Starbucks is if I go there for free water or napkins at Marston. So, I went to Chipotle and I was going back to Marston to study and eat, but I forgot a spoon and realized right when I entered Marston. Then I went to Starbucks to get a free spoon. 

Did you enjoy your experiences at Starbucks?
Interviewee: Yes, 10/10 customer service. I got to skip the line to ask for a spoon, and she was really nice about it and then gave me a spoon right away.

What is your current impression of Starbucks?
Interviewee: It’s overrated. I don’t go there enough to have sufficient or valid judgement.

What words do you associate with the brand when you hear “Starbucks?”
Interviewee: Coffee.

How has Starbucks advertising impacted you?
Interviewee: I have never seen a Starbucks ad. I’ve only seen Starbucks stores.

What do you think has contributed to the success of Starbucks?
Interviewee: The consistency of the coffee through a long passage of time compared to their competitors.

Overall, how do you rate your experience at Starbucks?
Interviewee: 10/10

Reflection: What I learned about my opportunity was that none of the people that I had interviewed had ever seen a Starbucks advertisement in-person. As a coffeehouse, Starbucks does promote the lifestyle of its consumers by not following the traditional methods of advertising and by cultivating a uniform atmosphere that is friendly and relaxed in all of their stores. What was the most surprisingly thing I learned about my opportunity was that two of the people I interviewed believed that what contributed to the success of Starbucks was their popularity on social media and their Tumblr aesthetic, yet no one had ever seen an advertisement for the coffeehouse before. As a company, Starbucks can highlight the brand’s purpose of connection along with their conservational efforts such as how one is saving the rainforest by purchasing ethically traded coffee. While Starbucks is renown for its coffee, it also tries to accommodate basic needs of the audience.

Summarize: Overall, the original opportunity is still there and the most persuasive or competitive idea that Starbucks can convey to the audience and target market is communicating their brand purpose. I believe that my new opportunity is more accurate than when I started, along with addressing a more specific problem. I think entrepreneurs should adapt their opportunities based on customer feedback because I believe that an entrepreneur can only evolve their business when they listen to feedback that is provided. By listening to the customer, companies and businesses can introduce features that the consumer requests while removing ones that are disliked. There is a trade-off between adapting to criticism and staying firm because those that are capable of responding are flexible and versatile. By failing to adapt, one can lose customers, profits, and potentially have their business fail. The world is constantly changing, and entrepreneurs must adapt to these changes in order to remain competitive within the market against their competitors.

Comments

  1. Lucianna GutierrezJanuary 30, 2020 at 4:30 PM

    Hi Arlene!
    Nice opportunity belief! I was unaware that Starbucks decided to exclude ads in America. In Peru, Starbucks isn't as popular in comparison to the US, so they run actual ads on the street to attract consumers. I actually found two huge Starbucks billboards in the same block this morning. Maybe they have excluded ads in the US because it is such a popular place that social media publications are enough to promote themselves as a business, or maybe they know that their target market is spending most of their time in this social platforms so they run their ads through there.
    I would have liked to see more questions regarding the particular ad issue however. Maybe you could have asked: "Do you think Starbucks ads would change your view/consumption towards the brand?" or something along those lines. Still, very good work!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lamar SpauldingFebruary 2, 2020 at 10:18 AM

    Arlene,

    Very impressive opportunity brief. I recently in another class did some research on Starbucks and it is very interesting that you observed that they do not do traditional advertising. I never paid attention to that fact.

    I am a Starbucks regular (I love coffee, but too much caffeine makes my eyes twitch). Many of the observations of your interviewees are spot on. I think you have found something that Starbucks needs to address in the future

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lamar SpauldingFebruary 2, 2020 at 10:20 AM

    Correction... opportunity belief.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Benjamin KominsFebruary 3, 2020 at 8:46 AM

    Hi Arlene,
    I really enjoyed reading your opportunity belief. I completely agree that Starbucks could see a boost in their sales if they advertised. I say this because, I too, have never seen an advertisement from the company. That being said, I think your questions could have been geared towards the opportunity rather than general feelings about the company and the atmosphere upon visiting. I would have liked to see some hypothetical questions about sales increases or if people would have a positive reaction to seeing advertisements from a company that does not do advertising.

    ReplyDelete

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